Party selecting mechanism for voting machine



Aug. 28, 1962 R. F- SHOUP EI'AL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6Sheets-Sheet 1 I 4? a F 2a 2 49' 97 INVENTORS,

Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. sHouP EIAL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 eSheets-Sheet 2 mmvroxs. 4 AA/VSOM E al /0w BY [on/M0 ,4, m); m

Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. SHOUP ETAL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6Sheets-Sheet 3 INV EN TORS.

AA/VSOM E .fl/OUP BY 5014/4/90 4. 5 1

Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. SHOUP ETAL PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTINGMACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS. AMA/30M E SHOUPAug. 28, 1962 R. F. SHOUP EIAL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6Sheets-Sheet 5 'Hl H I] II II II IN V EN TORS.

A TTOK/I/EX Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. SHOUP ET AL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORS. FAA/$0M F. .S'HOUP Y 50/11/420 4. FOX, SE.

B i Q7 ATTOf/VEX United States Patent Ofitice 3,051,379 Patented Aug.28, 1962 3,051,379 PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE RansomF. Shoup, Bryn Mawr, and Edward A. Fox, Sr.,

Morton, Pa., assignors to Shoup Research and Development Corporation,New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 10, 1959, Ser. No.852,135 1 Claim. (Cl. 235-55) Our invention relates to a voting machineof the type disclosed in Patent No. 2,054,102 of September 15, 1936, andin other Shoup patents.

One object of the present invention is to produce an improved machine ofthe type set forth.

In some localities, the voter must declare to which party he adheresbefore he can enter the booth to vote and this is known as a declaredprimary. In other localities the voter can enter the voting booth andcan select the party to which he adheres in secret and this is known asa selective primary.

It is, therefore, a further object of the invention to produce animproved voting machine which can be adapted for use in a declared or ina selective primary election, or for use in general elections by theaddition, modification or removal of very few parts, in very little timeand with very little skill.

A still further object is to produce an improved voting machine whichcan be instantly adapted for use by successive voters of differentparties, by merely changing the position of a single pointer, andWithout touching any other parts of the machine.

A still further object is to produce an improved party selectingmechanism which is fool-proof in the sense that, once the selectingmechanism has been set for the party declared by the voter, the votercan only vote for candidates of the party selected and the electionofficer cannot tamper with the setting of the party selecting mechanism.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the followingspecification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary and diagrammatic view of a voting machineprovided with a party selecting mechanism of our invention, the partsbeing shown in curtain open, or non-voting, position, and only suchparts of the conventional machine are shown as are necessary forlocating and relating the invention.

FIG. 1-A shows the position of one of the spindle return members of FIG.1, when a vote is cast.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, elevational view looking in the direction of line2-2 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 on FIG. 2 andshowing the parts in a position to permit the closing of the curtain.

FIG. 3-A is similar to FIG. 3 but showing the parts in a position toprevent the closing of the curtain.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line4-4 on FIG. 1 and, in solid lines, showing the position of the partswhen the curtain is open.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the position of some of the parts of FIG. 4after the curtain has been closed.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view looking in the direction of line6-6 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line7-7 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view taken on line 8-8 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 9-9 on FIG. 8 andshowing details of an auxiliary lockout mechanism in the operativeposition thereof.

FIG. 10 is similar to FIG. 9 but showing the lock-out mechanism in thenon-operative position thereof.

FIG. 11 is a skeletal perspective view of some of the linkage used tointerconnect and actuate various parts.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view showing details ofconstruction.

In FIG. 1 there are shown conventional voting spindles S which areaccessible to the voter and which are adapted to be turned invote-casting direction by keys, not shown. Associated with spindles Sare butterfly cams C which, when rotated in vote casting direction, orin clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1, engage and raise spindlereturn members 10, 11, 12 and 13, as shown in FIG. 1-A. The machineillustrated also includes a latch 14 which corresponds to latch 30 ofShoup Patent No. 2,826,356 and main cam bar 16 which corresponds to cambar 58 of Shoup Patent No. 2,329,005. Except as hereinafter pointed out,the structure and operation of these parts and of the curtain openingand closing mechanism form no part of the invention and are, therefore,not shown, nor described. It is suificient to say that latch 14 must bemoved to the left, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 11, before the curtain canbe closed and vice versa. For a disclosure of the structure andoperation of the parts mentioned and of the voting machine generally,reference may be had to the Shoup patents mentioned in the other Shouppatents which are available in the Patent Office and which, byreference, are made a part of the present disclosure.

According to our invention, the curtain is closed by means of handle 20which is accessible from outside of the machine and which is manipulatedby the attending election ofiicer. Handle 20 is fixedly carried by stubshaft 22 which is journalled for rotation in end wall 24 of the machineand which also fixedly carries link 26 to one end 27 of which is pivotedthe upper end of link 28, FIGS. 2 and 4. The lower end 29 of link 28passes through hole 30 in the floor of the machine and engages one endof bell crank lever 31, the other end 32 of which engages slide latch14. As will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 4, moving handle 20 from the upper,solid line, to the lower, broken line position in FIG. 2, depresseslinks 27 and 28 and moves the end 32 of hell crank lever 31 and latch14, to the left, as viewed in FIG. 1. It will be remembered thatmovement of latch 14 to the left must precede the closing of the votingbooth curtain and vice versa and in that, manual operation of themachine, movement of latch 14 merely unlocks the curtain moving 7mechanism. In automatic operation, movement of latch 14 releases thelocking mechanism and energizes a motor, not shown, for closing, oropening, the curtain, depending upon the direction of movement of thelatch. For the purpose of this disclosure, it is enough to say that,handle 20 must be moved from the solid to the broken line position, asviewed in FIG. 2, before the voting booth curtain can be closed and itmust be moved back to its upper, solid line position before the curtaincan be opened by the voter from Within the booth.

The party selecting mechanism includes stub shafts 40, 41, 42 and 43,etc., which are located near the lower ends of return spindles 10 to 13,respectively, and bell cranks 46, 47, 48 and 49, etc., the right handends of which, as viewed in FIG. 1, are fixedly secured to therespective stub shafts for joint rotation therewith. As best shown inFIGS. 1 and 1-A, the left hand ends of bell crank levers 46 to 49overlap pins 50 on the lower ends of spindle return members 10 to 13respectively, whereby, upward movement of a spindle return member mustrotate its corresponding bell crank in clockwise. direction, or from theposition shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. 1-A. Therefore,if a bell crank lever is immobilized, its corresponding spindle returnmember cannot be raised which, in turn means that the voting spindlesassociated with such return member cannot be turned in vote-castingdirection. In order selectively' to immobilize one or more spindlereturn mem-' bers to immobilize the corresponding voting spindles, weprovide a number of freely movable slides 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60,etc., one for each of the eight to ten spindle return members, which arepresent in an average voting machine, and we selectively connect saidslides to corresponding spindle return members, by means of connectingrods, such as rods 62, 64, etc. By this arrangement, rotation of a bellcrank lever in clockwise direction by the upward movement of its spindlereturn member, must move the slide connected thereto to the left, asviewed in FIG. 1. Therefore, if a slide is prevented from moving to theleft, its corresponding bell crank lever cannot rotate in clockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. l-A, its corresponding spindle returnmember cannot move up, and the voting spindles associated with saidspindle return member cannot be used, and vice versa.

To immobilize the spindle return members assigned to all parties listedon the machine except the one which is assigned to the party to whichthe voter declares his adherence, we provide an index plate 66, which isprovided with a notch 68 and which is rotatable in the direction ofdouble headed arrow 69 to bring notch 68 into registration with one, oranother, of slides 54 to 60 to permit movement to the left of one ofsaid slides and to prevent leftward movement of the other slides. Forexample, and as will be seen from FIGS. 1 and 6, stub shaft 40 isconnected by rod 62 to slide 54, but, since the solid portion of slide54 abuts the laterally immovable index plate 66, slide 54 cannot move tothe left and, therefore, bell crank lever 46 cannot be rotated, spindlereturn member 13 cannot be moved upwardly, and the voting spindlesassociated with return spindle member 13 cannot be turned invote-casting direction. On the other hand, because slide 57, which isconnected by rod 64 to bell crank lever 48 registers with, and ismovable leftwardly through, notch 68, bell crank lever 48 can berotated, its corresponding spindle return member 11 can be moved up and,therefore, the voting spindles S associated with spindle return member11, can be moved in vote-casting direction. Obviously, by moving indexplate 66 to cause notch 68 to move out of registration with slide 57 andinto registration with slide 54, spindle return member 11 will beimmobilized and spindle return member 13 will become available for use,and so on. By this arrangement, and when the voting is in a declaredprimary, as many slides will be connected, in the manner described, tothe spindle return members assigned to as many parties as have candidatwon the ballot. Thus, if there are four parties, four slides will beconnected to the four spindle return members which are assigned to therespective parties, and so on.

If the voting spindles associated with one spindle return member are notsuflicient to accommodate all the candidates running on the ticket of agiven party, two spindle return members can be interconnected for jointmovement with one slide. For example, if it is desired to assign thevoting spindles associated with two spindle return members, such asmembers 11 and 12, for use by one party, stub shafts 47 and 48, whichare associated with said two spindles can be interconnected for jointmovement by link 70, as shown in FIG. 1, and either of bell cranks 47 or48 is connected by rod 62 or 64 to one of slides 54 to 60. By thisarrangement, if notch 68 in index plate 66 registers with one of theslides referred to, any voting spindle associated with either of spindlereturn members 11 or 12, may be turned in vote casting direction andvice versa.

A party selecting mechanism embodying our invention also includes asecond index plate 72 (FIG. 11) which is fixedly carried by theframework of the machine and is provided with holes 64', 55', 56, 57',58, 59' and to be selectively engaged by pin 74 which is carried by arm76, which is fixedly carried by, and is movable radially and laterally,with shaft 78. Shaft 78 fixedly carries index plate 66 and passes freelythrough index plate 72 and through bearings 88. By this arrangement saidshaft is operative to rotate index plate 66, but is laterally slidablerelative to index plates 66 and 72. Shaft 78 also fixedly carries a hub82, and its left hand end extends beyond end wall 24 of the machine andcarries handle 86 by which the shaft may be rotated about its axis andmay be reciprocated laterally, or in the direction of double headedarrow 88 in FIGS. 1 and 6. Shaft 78 also carries a pointer 90 which isadapted to be moved relative to a third index plate 92 which carriesindicia for designating various political parties. For example, whenpointer 99 registers with D, it means that the machine is set up for useby voters of the Democratic party and, when the pointer registers withR, the machine is set up for use by voters of the Republican party, etc.By this arrangement, when a voter declares the party to which headheres, the election oflicer turns handle 86 to bring pointer 90 intoregistration with the letter designating the selected party, and movesshaft 78 to the tight to insert pin 74 in one of openings 54 to 60'. Ifit is assumed that the voting spindles associated with spindle returnmember 11 are assigned for use by voters of the Democratic party, therotation of shaft 78 to cause pointer 90 to register with letter D, alsorotates index plate 66 to cause notch 68 to register with slide 57 whichis connected by rod 64 to hell crank 48 of spindle return member 11.This, as previously explained, makes it possible to use the votingspindles associated with return member 11, While the remaining slides,which are connected to the spindle return members assigned to otherparties, are immobilized by index plate 66 to prevent the use of any ofthe voting spindles associated with remaining spindle return members. Inother words, a voter who declares that he is a Democrat, can only votefor a democratic candidate, and so on. Rotation of shaft 78 to theposition set forth also causes the pin 74 to register with opening 57'in index plate 72 and lateral movement of shaft 78 to the right asviewed in FIGS. 1 and 6 cause pin 74 to enter opening 57 to lock themachine until it is necessary to reset the machine for use by anotherparty which is done by moving shaft 78 to the left until pin 74 clearsindex plate 72 to permit rotation of shaft 78 and pointer 90 to registerwith R to set the machine for use by voters of the Republican party andso on.

In order to insure that the machine remains locked in the position towhich it is set while a voter is casting his vote, we provide link 96,the upper end of which is secured to link 26 and the lower end of whichhas a slot 98 which engages a fixed guide pin 100 carried by end wall 24of the machine, and we so adjust hub 82 on shaft 78 that, when pin 74 isin opening 57, hub 82 will be spaced from end wall 24 of the machine, asshown in FIG. 3, and so that when pin 74 clears index plate 72, hub 82will be in substantial abutment against end wall 24, in which positionit registers with, and prevents downward movement of link 96, from theposition of FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 5. It will beremembered that, to close the voting booth curtain, handle 20 must bemoved downwardly to actuate link 28, bell crank lever 31, etc. But, aslong as hub 82 is in the position of FIG. 3-A, link 96 cannot move downand, therefore, the curtain cannot be closed. This means that shaft 78must be moved to the right, to move hub 82 to the position of FIG. 3before link 96 can move down to permit movement of the handledownwardly, or in curtain closing direction. But, movement of shaft 78to the right causes pin 74 to enter one of the openings in index plate72 so that shaft 78, and index plate 66 carried thereby, cannot befurther rotated to change the party after the curtain has been closed.

The arrangement described is fully satisfactory when the machine is setfor automatic operation, that is, when the curtain is opened and closedmechanically and rapidly, as by an electric motor. But, when the curtainis opened and closed manually, any slide which has passed through notch68 will still be to the left of index plate 66, as viewed in FIG. 2, andin the absence of extreme manufacturing precision, which isprohibitively expensive, a point in the movement of the curtain inclosing direction may be reached at which the lower end of link 96 justbarely clears hub 82 and pin 74 barely clears index plate 72. In thisintermediate position, shaft 78 can be rotated accidentally, ordeliberately, and, if the shaft is rotated, the slide to the left ofindex plate 66, as viewed in FIG. 2, and all associated parts will bedamaged. If this happens, the voters will be deprived of their voteandit will reflect against the manufacturer of the machine. In order toguard against such a contingency, we provide link 102, one end 104 ofwhich is pivoted to end wall 24 of the machine and the other end ofwhich is normally biased downwardly by spring 106 to bring button 108(FIG. 3) on link 102 into registration with the left side of hub 82, asviewed in FIGS. 1 and 3. Obviously, the presence of button 108 betweenhub 82 and end wall 24 will prevent leftward movement of shaft 78regardless of the position of link 96 until after the curtain has beenfully opened and all slides are to the right of index plate 66. To takebutton 108 out of registrati n with hub 82 and thus permit leftwardmovement of shaft 78 to reset the machine for use by another party, weconnect the other end of link 102 with the upper end of rod 110, thelower end of which is connected to one end of bell crank lever 112, theother end of which is connected, by rod 114, to a shift bar 116, whichis movable with slide latch 14. By this arrangement, when the voteropens the curtain, latch 14 will move to the right, as viewed in FIG. 1,and shift bar 116 will pull rod 114 to the right to rotate bell cranklever 112 in clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1. This rotation ofbell crank lever 112 raises rod 110 which, in turn, raises link -2 andtakes button 108 out of registration with hub 82 to permit leftwardmovement of shaft 78. When shift bar 116 is moved to the left, it ceasesto pull on rod 114 and spring 106 rotates bell crank lever 112 incounterclockwise direction and moves button 108 into registration withhub 82.

Since the number of contending parties may be less than the number ofholes 54' to 60' in index plate 72, we provide screws 122 which aremovable relative to index plate 72 to prevent movement of arm 76 towardindex plate 72 whenever the end 124 of arm 76 is in registration withany of screws 122. For example, if a screw 122, which corresponds tohole 57' is in the position of FIG. 9, pin 74 can enter opening 57 inplate 72. Conversely, if the same screw 122 is moved to the position ofFIG. 10, arm 76 cannot come close enough for pin 74 to enter opening 57'and so on.

When the machine is to be used in a selective primary in which the votermay vote, regardless of party afliliation, plate 66 can be eitherremoved from the machine, or it can be turned 180 to take it out of theway of slides 54 to 60. Alternately, all of the slide can bedisconnected from the spindle return members by removing rods 62, 64,etc., or otherwise. Likewise, if desired, pin 74 can be removed, orretracted so as not to engage index plate 72. In any event, for use in ageneral election, the desired number of spindle return members will beconnected by straps 125 to interlock 126 so that, when a voter casts avote for one candidate for a given office for which only one candidateis to be chosen, all of the other spindle return members connected tosaid interlock will be immobilized. Interlock 126 is the same as inter-6 look 42 of Shoup Patent No. 2,541,553, and is, therefore, not shown,nor described in detail.

When the machine is to be used in a general election, index plates 66and 72 are again set aside in the manner above set forth; interlock 126is disconnected, or is dispensed with, and the voting spindle returnmembers are connected to conventional interlocks, such as interlock 42of the Shoup patent just above mentioned.

A conventional machine is provided with about ten spindle return memberswith which ten columns of voting spindles are associated and, when thenumber of parties in any given primary is less than ten, only thespindle return members assigned to the respective parties are connectedto corresponding slides 54 to 60 and the other spindle return memberswill be connected to interlock 126 whereby the spindle return memberswhich are not assigned to any parties can be used for non-party votingor for voting on general questions.

When shaft 78 is to be locked against all motion, it is moved to theright, to engage pin 74 in a hole in index plate 72 and pin 128 isremoved from opening 130 and is inserted in opening 132 (FIG. 6), whereit prevents leftward movement of shaft 78 and, hence, disengagement ofpin 72 from index plate 74. In this position, shaft 78 can neither berotated nor moved laterally.

When the voter finishes voting, he closes a switch, or he moves ahandle, which opens the curtain and resets the machine for the nextvoter. In so doing, the spindle return member which was raised to theposition of FIG. 1, also moves back to the lower position shown inFIG. 1. In previous Shoup machines, parts corresponding to bell cranklevers 4649 were pivoted to the lower ends of their respective spindlereturn members and downward movement of a spindle return member rotatedits corre sponding bell crank back to its original position. But,connecting the bell crank levers and their associated parts to theirrespective spindle return members, increases the weight and the frictionto be overcome when a voting spindle is turned in vote-castingdirection. In other words, it makes the task of moving the voting keysmore difficult than it would be if the rotation of a voting spindle invote casting direction only raised a corresponding return member andnothing else. According to our invention, the ends of the bell cranklevers merely overlap pins 50 so that they are rotated only in clockwisedirection when the return members are raised and we provide means, whichis operable upon opening of the curtain, to re-set the bell cranklevers, or to rotate them in counterclockwise direction, as viewed inFIG. 1. As shown, this means includes comb bar 97 which reciprocateswith latch 14 and the teeth 99 of which are engageable with the bellcrank levers 46-49, as shown in FIG. 1A. It will be remembered that,when the curtain is closed, latch 14, and, hence, comb bar 97 move tothe left so that teeth 99 of the comb bar Will be out of the way of bellcrank levers. But, when the voter opens the curtain, latch 14 and combbar 97 move to the right, as viewed in FIG. l-A and teeth 99 of the combbar engage the respective bell crank levers and rotate them from theposition of FIG. 1-A back to the position of FIG. 1. Thiscounterclockwise rotation of the bell crank levers withdraws whicheverslide 54-60 may have passed through notch 68 when the bell cranks wererotated in clockwise direction, out of said notch.

What we claim is:

A party selecting mechanism for a voting machine of the type whichcomprises a plurality of voting spindles rotatable in vote castingdirection and vice versa, a curtain movable to a first closed and to asecond open position, actuating means movable to a first position formoving said curtain to its first position, and to a second position formoving said curtain to its second position, said party selectingmechanism including a plurality of freely movable slides, meansconnecting said slides to said spindles, respectively, in such a mannerthat rotation of said spindles in vote casting direction moves thecorresponding slides in one direction and vice versa, 3, rotatableobstructing plate located adjacent said slides to prevent movementthereof and hence rotation of the corresponding spindles, saidobstructing plate having an opening therein large enough for the passageof a slide therethrough, a fixed plate having holes therein whichcorrespond to said slides, a rotatable and laterally movable shaftslidable through both of said plates and operative to rotate saidobstructing plate selectively to bring said opening in registration withone of said slides to permit movement thereof and, hence rotation of itscorresponding spindle in vote-casting direction, a pin carried by saidshaft, said shaft being movable to a first position in which said pin isinserted into one of said holes to prevent rotation of said shaft andsaid obstructing plate and into a second position in which said pin iswithdrawn from said hole to permit rotation of said obstructing plate,an

arm carried by, and movable with said actuating means,

and a hub carried by, and movable with said shaft, said hub and said armbeing so located that, when said shaft is in its second position, saidhub obstructs'the movement of said arm and, hence, movement of saidactuating means to its first position and whereby, when said actuatingmeans is in its first position, said shaft cannot be moved to its secondposition, a second pivoted arm, means References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 982,736 McElroy Jan. 24, 1911 995,357Lausterer June 13, 1911 1,158,647 Dean Nov. 2, 1915 1,194,337 LaustererAug. 8, 1916

